Peoria County Hearings for Four Creeks Wind Farm Begin September 14
The Four Creeks utility scale wind farm project has been filed to Peoria County Zoning. Your presence at the hearings is needed! The sessions will be at the Holiday Inn & Suites, Peoria, 7601 North Orange Prairie Rd., near the Grand Prairie Shopping Center, beginning on Monday, September 14th, at 9 a.m. It is expected expert testimony both for and against the project will be presented and then there will be public comments in general.
Why Edwards and Other Closed Coal Plants Have No Battery Back-Up or Solar Installed
Did you ever see a social media post asking support for a battery back-up installation at the Edwards closed coal plant or solar at the Duck Creek plant which was closed by Vistra for economic reasons? The Illinois Coal to Solar Energy Storage Initiative was intended to enable closed coal plants transition to new uses that would provide property taxes for the area and employment.
Pesticide Drift Harms Plants and Pollinators
Herbicides kill or damage the flowering plants that pollinators depend on. Herbicide drift can affect plants sometimes over a mile away from the intended application site. Prairie Rivers Network recently published Pesticide Drift In Public Spaces, which explores the frequency and distribution of pesticide drift in the places where children and adults play and learn.
Changes Coming This Fall to Our Birdseed Sale and Executive Committee Elections
This fall there will no longer be a November-December print newsletter, which included our birdseed order form and our Executive Committee election ballots. Instead, our birdseed order form will be mailed separately, and the Sierra Club Illinois Chapter will manage our HOI Group election, which will be online.
| HOI Group Meetings and Events |
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Update » |
Wed, Sept 16, 6:30pm |
| Chris Riccardo, Midwest Organizer for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), will talk to us about recent developments involving the Bear’s Ears and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments. The spectacular Bear’s Ears and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments comprise a rare and fragile ecosystem in a land that is both sacred to indigenous peoples and of great historical and archeological importance. The Trump administration signed a proclamation on July 13, 2026 slashing the size of these by 90%, removing protected status for nearly 3 million acres of public land and dissolving cooperative tribal management structures. New bills being put forward by Republican lawmakers would relax regulations on public land. One such bill would open national parks and monuments to off-road vehicle use that would damage fragile landscapes and disrupt wildlife habitat, not to mention desecrate remote and culturally significant locations. More » |
Everglades of the North: The Story of the Grand Kankakee Marsh » |
Wed, Oct 21, 6:30pm |
| The HOI Sierra Club will be showing the award-winning documentary film Everglades of the North: The Story of the Grand Kankakee Marsh. This 52-minute movie compels the viewer to consider the vital role wetlands and prairies play in our ecosystem and delivers the ongoing and living story of the marsh through expert interviews, beautiful high-definition wildlife footage, historic never-before-seen photographs, and dramatic recreations. Pat Wisniewski, producer and cinematographer on this film, will be available for Q&A following the program. More » |
Rock Island Trail Hike at Wyoming » |
Sun, Oct 25, 1pm |
| Please meet in the parking lot near the old train station building in Wyoming. We will hike for about 90 minutes. This is a joint hike with the Sierra Club Heart of Illinois Group and the Pimiteoui Trail Association. Please RSVP and sign the online waiver. |